THE LOOKING GLASS FACTOR

by Judith M. Goldberger ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 6, 1980

This unpretentious piece of soft sci-fi, set in the year 2778, has a few minor virtues and no obtrusive vices. The basic gimmick--a newfound ability to ""merge"" with inanimate objects--is simple, yet sufficiently awesome in its implications. The associated rules are few and also simple (two inanimates can't merge; thus you have to remove your clothes and jewelry before going into a wall), and they are worked into the story as needed. And the formula plot--Hannah, a little girl called to help two scientists in their experiments with merging, is torn by her vow of secrecy, her worries over whether the world should be told, and her fear of merging's personal and public temptations--is balanced by a novel circumstance: The scientists, along with Hannah's guidance counselor, some of her classmates, and other extras in the cast, are cats--members of the species Fells sapiens which began with an accidental laboratory mutation back in 2432. There's another plot thread, involving the human scientist who discovered merging, her subsequent consuming addiction to the experience (in the end she more or less blows herself up at the molecular level, thus merging with the universe and becoming ""one with everything""), and her efforts (successful) to dissuade Hannah, who has already felt a wonderful, weightless, bodiless euphoria when inside the wall. (Cats, it seems are immune to the sensation.) It's all quite tame and fairly low in suspense (no desperate trapped moments inside the wall; no climactic inner battle between the merging instinct and commitment to this life), but the ideas and action work together so that there are always questions to be answered just a little further on.

Pub Date: Nov. 6, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1980

Categories: FICTION